I decided today to take a drive and get out of the house. I brought my laptop along so I could write if the mood so sparked me. I stopped at a little roadside picnic area and ate my lunch. I was surprised at the number of people that were at the little park. I’ve driven past here dozens of times and never saw a soul. I was fortunate to get parked right under a big maple tree that provided me shade while I ate. 

As I sat there I watched the leaves blow in the breeze. Nature is so spectacular, as this tree has been growing in this place for probably over a hundred years gaging by the size of it. It has seen so many different things and so many seasons. It has been rained on and snowed on. It has shed its leaves and regrown them more than 100 times. Suffered through times of intense heat and the scorching hot sun blazing on its leaves. And yet there it stands for all of us to see. I’m reminded as I sit here admiring this wonderful tree that it’s breathing out (oxygen) what I breathe in and I’m breathing out (carbon dioxide) what it breathes in. How incredibly perfect. 

I’m focused on this today, as I decided to notice the beauty in nature around me. It started this morning as I was sitting in my office and a bird tapped on my window. It was almost like he was saying, “Hey, pay attention to me.” At that particular moment, I had finished one piece of work and before I started something else I decided to have a look at FaceBook. Well, that was a good 20 minutes or more of scrolling and reading. As the bird grabbed my attention I was thinking of a conversation I had had earlier in the week about the amount of screen time people are engaging in these days and my friend said she had decided to severely limit hers because she had other things she wanted to do and accomplish. So picture it … I’m scrolling away, a bird grabs my attention by banging at the window, and a split second later I heard my friend’s voice in my head say … “What are you doing? You have more important things to do.” It made me smile and it was at that moment I texted her to let her know I was thinking of her. It was also at that moment I decided I needed to get out of the house and enjoy this gorgeous summer day. 

My initial thought was I would go for a ride on my motorcycle and find somewhere to stop but as the thermometer was saying 33 degrees celsius and there are at least another 8 to 10 degrees on top of that for humidex, I decided it was a 4 wheel and air conditioning kind of day. I’m so grateful I got out as it shifted my energy so much. My heart is so full as I sit here admiring this beautiful old tree and truly feeling so grateful that I am alive and live with such beauty around me. I hope you all have a beautiful day and take time to notice the beauty nature is serving up for you to see.